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MPG Marathon
A Mazda 2 1.5d achieved 91.37mpg in this year’s MPG Marathon, the best overall figure from a conventional internal combustion engine. After a time penalty this reduced by 2.5mpg to result in a net result of 88.87mpg. The official combined economy figure for the Mazda 2 is 83.1mpg.
However the award for the best improvement compared to the official figure went to a 5.0-litre V8-engined Ford Mustang which achieved an overall MPG figure of 36.6mpg against a manufacturer’s combined figure of 20.9mpg, a huge 75.12% improvement – the highest percentage improvement figure ever seen on the event.
The highest overall figure was achieved by a pre-production Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, with 109.14mpg achieved over the 387-mile route. At the UK’s average fuel cost of £5.20 a gallon, this equates to just £14.63 worth of fuel to drive a route equivalent to the distance between London and Glasgow by road.
A Fiat Fiorino 1.3 Multijet recorded a 12.28 per cent improvement in the light commercial vehicles category.
Sponsored by RAC Business, ALD Automotive and Crystal Ball, drivers were charged with working out the most economical route between a number of waypoints in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Northants and Gloucestershire in a two-day event starting and ending at Heythrop Park near Chipping Norton.
A Hydrogen fuel cell powered Hyundai iX35 used 6.45kg of hydrogen during the event, averaging out at 63.1 miles per kilo against a quoted figure of 60.9 miles per kilo. A 750cc Moto Guzzi motorcycle achieved 86.87mpg.
Honda took home the most awards for one manufacturer with the ‘Most Efficient Family Car’ and ‘Four Wheel Drive’ titles; first and second place in the ‘Load Lugging Economy Champion’ class; second and third place overall in ‘Best Percentage Improvement on MPG’, and third ‘Best Outright MPG’ among the pack of 22 competing vehicles. The Honda Civic Tourer 1.6 i-DTEC returned 80.51mpg and the Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC achieved 63.77mpg.
Full results are available at www.thempgmarathon.co.uk
